Former Indian women’s basketball player Geethu hopes to coach national team

With many new things happening in Indian basketball and with the future looking very promising, many former internationals have come back with a desire to contribute to the game once again.

Geethu Anna Jose, perhaps the biggest name in Indian women’s basketball, along with other former India captains Anitha Pauldurai, Shireen Limaye and Smruthi Radhakrishnan cleared the world body FIBA’s World Association of Basketball Coaches Level-1 course held in Goa recently.

Geethu, the first Indian woman to play in a professional league in Australia apart from many championships for the national team, felt that the course was an eye-opener.

“I felt I’ve been a player so I know a lot of stuff but there are a lot of things to learn from this course. Seeing things from a coach’s point of view can be very different from a player’s point of view,” said Geethu in a chat with Sportstar Hindu on Saturday.

And now that she has cleared level-1, Geethu is hungry to get levels 2 and 3 and keep climbing in her new life.

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“As a player, I’ve accomplished a lot, I want to accomplish things as a coach too. I want to go all the way up as an elite coach. Definitely, becoming the coach of the national team is something I’m looking at,” said the 39-year-old Railways player who is also a mentor in The Legends Foundation Basketball Academy in Thiruvananthapuram.

“I’m also looking at other options outside the country, you can get opportunities, this course will help you with all that.”

Returning to Australia as the coach of a pro club is also something Geethu is thinking about. And she is very hungry to keep learning.

“If you get to work under a good coach and if you get a chance to coach a good team, you can learn a lot from the players and you can share your experiences with them also,” she said.

Former international Shireen, who played for Maharashtra in the senior nationals in Gujarat early this year, also nurses similar hopes.

“I’m planning to coach the State team and the Indian team if they allow me to take it. That’s the plan for the future,” said 30-year-old Shireen, from Pune, who was the youngest woman at the FIBA event in Goa.